Netflix's Longest-Running Show Is Still Massively Underrated After 11 Years
Save for a select handful of mega-hits, Netflix has a reputation for canceling shows far too soon. While Stranger Things was allowed to end its fifth season with a controversial, movie-length finale, other fan-favorite shows, like Sense8, Boots, and even Mike Flanagan's The Midnight Club, were canceled after just one or two seasons.
Yet one comedy quietly managed to live a long life on the streamer without turning as many heads as counterparts such as BoJack Horseman, House of Cards, and Orange Is the New Black. Grace and Frankie ran from 2015 to 2022 for a total of 94 episodes, the most of any Netflix original series to date.
The offbeat comedy saw Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin as the titular duo forced into unlikely companionship upon the reveal that their husbands, played by Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston, were, in fact, in love with each other. Despite its celebrity cast and refreshingly original premise, Grace and Frankie never won an Emmy during its run.
Even so, Grace and Frankie was a quirky, feel-good show with an off-beat sense of humor that only got better with each passing season.
Grace And Frankie Didn't Become Netflix's Longest-Running Show By Accident
Grace and Frankie catered to a unique audience, one much broader than it may seem at first glance. While the show's main focus was on the wives, Robert and Sol's love story was a major element of the story for all seven seasons. The pain and challenges they put Grace and Frankie through were acknowledged, but their romance was never villainized.
Robert and Sol, in fact, proved to be at the center of some of the show's sweetest and most lighthearted moments. Even with the potentially controversial start to their romance, Grace and Frankie managed to tell an endearing queer love story from a generation that still seldom sees that kind of representation on screen.
Much of Grace and Frankie was devoted to the subject of aging. Fonda, Tomlin, Sheen, and Waterston are all members of the Silent Generation, a generation that, today, rarely makes up the entire main cast of long-running shows. The show handled the topic with grace and humor through plot points like Grace and Frankie inventing a vibrator designed for older women.
The show's premise invited a unique overlapping audience of not only older viewers and queer viewers, but also any young person who can relate to the challenge of making plans for their aging parents. Grace and Frankie's main foursome was supported by their adult children, who captured a range of young adult lifestyles, creating a point of entry for nearly any viewer.
Grace And Frankie Is Aging Well Over 10 Years Since Its Premiere
When it premiered, Grace and Frankie felt like an even more modern Modern Family. Yet the show wasn't only progressive for its time. Its quirky sense of humor doesn't feel dated nor overly replicated in the comedies that have come out since, and the same can be said for its treatment of diverse storylines.
Today, Grace and Frankie is most evocative of Bill Lawrence's unexpectedly wholesome comedies like Shrinking and Rooster that have recently skyrocketed in popularity. The success of those shows highlights how ahead of its time the show really was, though Grace and Frankie wasn't quite like them either.
At the end of the day, Grace and Frankie was about a one-of-a-kind family unit that ultimately always came through for one another, but the road to get there wasn't overly sweet, sentimental, or devoid of conflict. Grace and both of her daughters were cynical and crass, while Frankie and Sol's open-minded lifestyle led to disappointment just as often as it led to joy.
Their lifelike flaws made the characters feel lifelike, and their ultimate happiness hard-earned, allowing Grace and Frankie to be funny, outlandish, and as relatable now as it ever was.